The Principle of the German School Thessaloniki after being held hostage experience

A convicted kidnapper, on leave from prison, entered a school and held three people hostage for an hour before releasing them unharmed. The hostage situation was an exact replica of the one he got convicted of three years ago.

Early this morning the armed man managed to enter the school run jointly by the German and Greek states, in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and take hostages in exactly the same manner he had done in 2006. Constantinos Arabatzis 55 years old carried an almost exact repeat of the hostage situation three years ago including taking the same person - the principle of the school.

Ararbatzis’s was sentenced to 11 years in prison following his last kidnapping but was recently released after serving just two years. In addition he had also served time in prison in Germany for tax related issues.

The situation however, ended peaceful when police negotiators managed to persuade the man to surrender and release his three hostages who included the principal of the school, the burser and a German national who works as a teacher in the German School in Thessaloniki.